Taken
by cellokitty101
Summary: Only days after solving the triple kidnapping of the Gable twins and Ella Francis, Tory wakes up in a dank cell with no knowledge of where she is. Where is she? Will the Virals find her? And, most importantly, is her kidnapper still out there?
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N:_**

**_Hey guys, I'm writing this because of the abominable lack of Virals fanfiction on the Internet. This is set after _Exposure_, and it does contain some spoilers, so be careful! Please read and review, and I'll upload more! I know this story is kind of cliche but I'll try to make it interesting. _**

_Drip. Drip. Drip. _

My eyes fluttered open.

It was too dark for me to see anything, but I could feel the droplets of water running down my face and trickling across my neck and arms. My limbs felt heavy and useless, and my back was pressed against a rough stone wall.

I shifted slightly, and my muscles screamed in pain. I stifled a whimper. It was dark, so dark.

_Oh God, where was I?!_

I couldn't remember anything. I'd gone to bed the night before - I could clearly visualize changing into my pajamas, setting my alarm for school the next day, and slipping beneath the covers. But I was not at home, I was clearly not at school, and I was terrified.

I tried to open my mouth to speak. My lips were parched, my throat dry and rough as sandpaper. Talking, or making a noise of any kind, simply wasn't going to happen. I felt anger rage through me. If I was where I thought I was, then I couldn't believe this had happened. It had only been a week ago that me and my friends had uncovered a triple kidnapping - well, a single kidnapping, really, because two of the people had faked their own abduction.

My friends were going to freak out. The thought of them - the image of Ben, Hi, and Shelton waking up and realizing I was gone - sent a surge of energy through me. I levered myself upright and pushed away from the wall. I stood up, my head feeling fuzzy. My ankle throbbed.

My eyes had started to adjust to the dark. I was in a cramped room with a low ceiling only a few inches above my head. Water dripped through cracks in the stone walls. The floor was slick with grime. There didn't appear to be a door or entrance of any kind, and there were no windows.

I took a tiny step forward, and immediately regretted it. Spikes of pain shot through my left ankle. My knees rolled forward and I lurched to the ground, feeling like I was going to vomit. My breathing quickened, and I felt myself starting to panic. I'd never felt pain like that, not once in my entire life.

It took a few more seconds before I found the strength to roll over and face the ceiling. There had to be some way in and out of here - a trapdoor, a tunnel, _something_. It was too dark for me to see anything. As I lay on my back, rivulets of water rolled from the ceiling and across my cheeks. My hair was a sodden, tangled, red mess. The simple act of standing and then collapsing had left me exhausted. Involuntarily, my eyes slid shut.

A blinding white light seeped through my eyelids. Sputtering, I opened my heavy eyes. Someone was shining a flashlight in my face.

"Wha…" was all I could manage.

The flashlight beam moved, and I blinked, purple spots flashing across my vision. The person holding the flashlight set it down in a corner of the room. The next thing I knew, a hand was tangled through my hair, and I was roughly dragged into a sitting position and thrown against the wall.

I gasped for air. My entire body ached.

In the narrow ray of light provided by the flashlight, I could vaguely see the outline of my attacker: relatively short, with buzzed black hair, dressed in a black hoodie and jeans. I saw the outline of a gun holster against his shirt and gulped.

My fear was enough to bring my voice back.

"What do you want with me?" I choked out.

To my horror, he reached out a hand and cupped my chin, his thumb pressing against my jaw. I recoiled, pressing against the wall as hard as I could.

"Oh, sweetheart," my attacker murmured. "You didn't think Detective Hawfield was running the entire Gable network by himself, did you? I heard that you were smart, but maybe not so much."

He slipped his hand into the waistband of his jeans and pulled out a Flip camera.

"I know you haven't been here very long, but I think you're in a good state of mind for a little filming," he sneered, smirking. "Now, come on, sweetheart, smile for the camera. You're prettier when you smile."

I shivered, nearly shaking from disgust. I'd thought Detective Hawfield was bad, but this guy took fear and intimidation to an entirely new level. God, was Charleston overrun with psychopaths?

A red light flickered at the corner of the camera, and he slowly panned the lens over my face. I laced my fingers together, trying to keep my hands from shaking. After about twenty seconds, the red light flicked off. He tucked the camera into his pocket.

"I'll see you later, Miss Brennan," he said, a disturbing smile flashing over the close-set features of his face. "One more thing, before I go: my dear colleague Hawfield offered you a quick, easy way to go. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to extend the same courtesy to you."

He grabbed the flashlight and turned it off. I could see his shadow slipping out of the room, but I didn't know how he'd gotten out or where he was going.

_Don't sound so confident. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, too._

Pressing my fingers against my temples, I reached deep into the far recesses of my brain. Clenching my jaw, I waited for a flicker, a spark, something.

Nothing. Nothing came.

_I couldn't flare. I couldn't flare I couldn't flare I couldn't flare_.

I was going to die, and no one would be able to save me.

&%&%&%

From the second that I woke up, I knew something was gravely wrong.

I could hear voices coming from downstairs. It was seven o'clock in the morning. My parents should have been at work an hour ago. But that wasn't the only strange thing - I could hear Tory's dad's voice, too, and his ditzy girlfriend, Whitney.

_What was Dr. Howard doing here? What was _Whitney _doing here?_

Normally, getting out of bed was a long and painful process, sometimes with interventions from my mother, who didn't understand the concept of "sleeping in." Today, though, I scrambled out of bed at top speed and threw on my school uniform without hesitation. Something was not right.

I was so worried that I almost forgot to put my glasses on. By the time I'd gotten them on and made my way down the stairs, the voices had escalated.

"She wouldn't just leave the house in the middle of the night without her phone! I know she wouldn't!"

Dr. Howard's voice, risen almost to a shout. If there was one thing I knew about Tory's dad, it was that he did not shout, or raise his voice at all, for that matter.

I stumbled into the kitchen. My mom dove at me and grabbed me by the shoulders with iron hands.

"Shelton, have you seen Tory?" she demanded. "Seriously, Shelton, answer me. When was the last time you saw Tory?"

My mom's brown eyes were wild with panic, and her cheeks were flushed.

"I...the last time I saw her was at school yesterday. We were going to hang out, but then she said that she had to go straight home. I didn't talk to her after that," I explained.

"Maybe she's meeting a boy," Whitney suggested, causing both of my parents and Dr. Howard to press their hands against their foreheads like they were warding off a headache. "We can't jump to conclusions, Kit. She's probably fine."

"Whitney, you don't understand," Dr. Howard said sharply. "I know that something bad has happened to her. There were these scratch marks on her door, like she'd raked her nails across it. Like she'd been dragged out."

The thought made my stomach turn.

"And you found her phone?" I managed to ask.

Whitney nodded. "She never goes anywhere without it."

I whipped my phone out of my pocket and fired off a quick text to Hi and Ben.

_**Virals. Outside. Now.**_

I couldn't be sure that Ben would get my text. As far as I knew, his school started half an hour earlier than ours. He might have already left, but I hoped and prayed that he was still here. A few seconds later, I got two responses.

_**Why? **_Hiram.

_**Coming. **_Ben.

I looked towards the frantic parents. My mother was trying to console Whitney, awkwardly patting her on the shoulder. Dr. Howard and my dad were both on the phone.

"I'm gonna go outside and see if Hi and Ben know what happened to her," I announced to no one in particular. Grabbing my backpack, I threw my feet into my school shoes and raced out the door.

Hi was loitering on the grassy lawn, dressed in his school uniform with the jacket inside out, silk lining exposed. As I watched, Ben opened the door of his house and ambled towards us, dressed in his trademark black shirt and jeans. He was in no particular hurry. I frantically gestured for him to hurry up.

"Whoa, what's going on? Why are you freaking out?" Hi asked. "It is way too early for this."

Ben finally reached us and crossed his arms across his chest. A frown creased his features.

"What's going on?" he demanded in his low voice. He glanced over my shoulder towards Tory's townhouse. "Where's Tory?"

"That's why I texted you," I said, trying to control my growing fear. "She's gone. I woke up this morning, and Dr. Howard and Whitney were in my kitchen. Everybody's freaking out. She just disappeared and left her phone and all her stuff there. And according to Dr. Howard, there are scratches on her bedroom door, like she was clawing at it with her nails."

Hi's eyes turned huge, and he balled up his blazer and tossed it to the ground. "Well, looks like we're not going to school today."

He started to make a beeline for Tory's house. I looked over at Ben.

"You coming?"

His face turned completely blank, like he was hiding a barrage of emotions from us. "Of course I'm coming."

We ran towards Tory's house. In their panic, Dr. Howard and Whitney had left the door unlocked. We sped into the foyer and up two flights of stairs.

Tory's wolfdog, Cooper, sat in the middle of the kitchen, tail upright, howling in distress.

"Shit," Ben muttered. "Shit, shit, shit."

He started to pace around the kitchen. Ben was normally the picture of aloof calmness, but I knew how much he cared about Tory. He was starting to panic.

"Ben." Hi grabbed Ben's shoulders. "We need to search this place before Dr. Howard and Whitney get back. If they found scratch marks on her door, then we can probably find more evidence."

Ben sucked in a deep breath, then ran his fingers through his hair. We turned and bounded up the stairs to the third floor, taking them two at a time.

It was obvious which room was Tory's. The door was thrown open, and from down the hallway I could see the scratches that Dr. Howard had mentioned. They were angled to the left and about a foot long each.

Stepping forward, Hi ran his finger along the scratches.

"Well," he began. "The scratches are angled to the left, which suggests that she was probably dragged...this way."

He pointed down the narrow, dead-end hallway. It was completely barren except for a small skylight on the wall.

Ben pressed his fingers against the scratches on the door. His hands shook. I clenched my jaw, trying to control my anger.

_Whoever did this to Tory would pay._

Hi had stepped down the small hallway. He was squinting at the skylight.

"This is the only way the kidnapper could have gotten her out."

"We need to flare." Ben's voice echoed down the hallway from where he was standing in the doorway of Tory's room. "There's probably evidence right here that we can't see."

Hi scowled. "Are you crazy? The police will be here any minute!"

"Which is why we need to flare," Ben snapped. "We can find evidence in seconds that they won't be able to find in days."

Before either of us could say anything, Ben squeezed his eyes shut. When they opened, his irises glowed molten gold.

Hissing curses under my breath, I closed my eyes and reached deep into my brain.

**SNAP.**

The transition was dreadfully painful, but the result was always worth it. I opened my eyes, my vision sharpening to HD clarity. My ears thrummed, and I could hear Ben's heartbeat, ten feet away, pounding as loudly as a bass drum. A bizarre combination of smells flooded my nostrils - lemon shampoo and wet dog hair and leftover breakfast bacon.

It only took seconds.

"Found something!" Hi crowed. He was standing on his tiptoes, leaning up towards the skylight. I watched as he carefully pulled a thin red filament from the windowsill. It took me a millisecond to identify it as Tory's hair.

I looked closer. There was another scuff mark, and a small hole in the window screen.

"He must have taken her through here," I realized. "But how is that possible? Presumably, she was unconscious or at least semiconscious. Or maybe she was drugged, so she couldn't scream but she could still fight back."

Ben glared at me. Deadly anger flashed across his golden eyes. "Stop talking about her like she's some sort of client. This is _Tory_. Finding her hair isn't going to help us. We need to get out there, take the wolfdog, and _find her_."

I was surprised by Ben's sudden outburst. At times, I wasn't sure he was capable of complete sentences, let alone a full speech.

"Ben's right," Hi admitted after a pause. "We know how they got out. Now we just need to find her."

Frantic barks sounded from downstairs. The three of us leaped down the steps and into the kitchen, where Cooper stood, racing around the table in panicked circles.

"Come on, Coop!" Hi shouted, slapping his knees. Coop bounded towards us and nearly tackled me to the ground. I scrambled backwards. Ben stepped forward and hooked his fingers underneath Coop's collar, dragging him out of the house.

"Come on, Coop," Hi said. "We've got a friend to save."

&%&%&%

It felt like years had passed before he came back.

I didn't know if he'd posted the ransom video or not. I didn't know what he was going to do to me. But I was too tired, and too cold, to care.

I wrapped my arms around myself. I couldn't stop shivering, but it wasn't from fear. The water hadn't stopped dripping, and I couldn't manage to dry off. Whatever he'd drugged me with still hadn't fully worn off, and my ankle hurt more than ever. There was no concept of time in this dank cell.

As before, I didn't see how he got in. I just saw the blinding flashlight beam. He was clutching some kind of knife...was that a pizza cutter? I felt sick.

"Nice to see you again, sweetheart," he sneered. "You're looking well."

"Just let me go," I begged. "I won't say anything...I don't know...you don't have to kill me."

_FLARE FLARE FLARE FLARE FLARE!_

My brain was screaming at me, but I couldn't flare. I'd tried so hard, but I couldn't do it. I was dead - I was going to die a slow and painful death by pizza cutter. My arms shook.

My kidnapper reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe filled with clear liquid.

_Lethal injection...that can't be so bad. _

He reached over and pushed a clump of sodden hair away from my neck. Before I could struggle, he pushed the tip of the needle into the thin skin over my jugular vein and pressed the plunger.

It only took seconds. My entire body seized. It felt like molten lead had been poured into my veins. I couldn't turn my head, couldn't speak, could only move my eyes and blink. My limbs were frozen.

He patted my head. "This is just so you keep quiet. Hawfield told me that you're a feisty little girl."

My only option left was to flare, but it was like my brain had stopped working as well. I couldn't even find the dark area in the back of my head that held the key to unlocking my changed DNA.

I was paralyzed, helpless, as he flipped me onto my stomach so my back was facing upwards. He pulled out the pizza cutter, and I knew what he was going to do.

The sharp circular blade cut through the fabric of my shirt before digging into my skin. My synapses exploded. I needed to scream, needed to cry out. It hurt so much. I could feel blood running down my side and across my stomach.

After a few agonizing seconds that felt like hours, the blade lifted from my skin. I struggled to breathe. The cut had to be about a foot long, and it was gushing blood. I was going to bleed to death in the dark. I was going to die.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as he brought the blade down again, etching bright red stripes across the skin of my back. My shirt was in shreds, and there was blood _everywhere_.

I heard him stand. "It should wear off in a few hours. Until next time, Miss Brennan."

&%&%&%

At five o'clock that evening, my mom dragged me home.

It had been a day and a half since Tory had been taken, and we'd had virtually no luck in finding her. Neither had the police. We'd taken Coop out in Ben's car and driven around for hours, but he couldn't manage to track her either.

"Mom!" I begged. "Can you please just let me stay here for 15 more minutes? I think we're on to something!"

"Hiram Moshe Stolowitski," my mother growled. "There is a killer on the loose, and I will not have my bubby outside after five o'clock!"

"UGH." Dramatically throwing my head back, I followed my mother out of Shelton's garage, waving goodbye to Shelton and Ben.

We'd stepped into the kitchen when it all began to go wrong.

My father ran from the family room, his eyes wide. If there was one thing that I knew about Linus Stolowitski, it was that he did not run.

"Hiram," he panted. "It's your friend. Tory."

A rush of adrenaline surged through me. I glanced at the TV, where a breaking news broadcast had interrupted my dad's nightly programming. A nervous-looking man with a bad comb-over stood in front of the camera.

"36 hours ago, 15-year-old Bolton Preparatory Academy student Victoria Brennan was filed as a missing person. Just minutes ago, we received a video clip from the Charleston Police Department. We do not know anything about Victoria Brennan's whereabouts, but this video clip may be the first step to finding her. Viewer discretion is advised."

A black title card filled the screen, with six white words: "This is not a ransom video."

The screen flickered. "No matter how much you pay me, I'm still going to kill her."

My heart seized. Behind me, my parents were clutching each other's hands.

The screen flashed to a blurry scene, filmed with a video camera. It showed a dank, windowless cell. Water trickled from the ceiling and ran down the walls. There was no light except for a flashlight propped in the corner.

An emaciated figure was huddled in the corner, her arms wrapped around herself. I couldn't force myself to believe that it was Tory. The camera zoomed in on her face, and I gasped. Her face was streaked with dirt and blood, and her green eyes held so much fear that she didn't even look like the same person. Her foot was bent in the wrong direction, and it looked like she was having trouble breathing.

The clip ended after a few seconds. Then, a new message flashed across the screen: "Want the body? Provost Dungeon, 12:00 tonight."

My knees nearly collapsed.

No. It had to be a trick. She couldn't be dead. There was no way.

_If Tory was dead, I would know. We would know. Coop would know. _

I ran out of the house as fast as my legs could carry me. Shelton and Ben were already standing on the lawn. I could feel their fear and anxiety from a mile away.

"We have to find her. We have to go get her, _now_," Ben growled. "Whatever psychopath has her...I've never seen her look that scared. _Never_."

"I know, I know," Shelton was tugging on his earlobe so hard that I was afraid it would rip off. "The video said midnight...but he's going to kill her. If we get there before then, we might be able to stop him."

Ben was already reaching for his car keys. Suddenly, a thought occured to me.

"Why isn't she flaring?" I demanded. "She wasn't tied up or anything, if she could flare then she could probably find a way out."

"I don't know, and I don't really care. We just have to get her out of there," Shelton replied, practically diving into the passenger's seat.

We were just pulling out of Ben's driveway when Cooper sprinted across the lawn, leaped off the ground, and hurled himself through the open window, landing on top of me. Sputtering, I pushed the wolfdog off of me. He jumped into the passenger's seat, nearly crushing Shelton.

"He knows where to go," Shelton said. "Ben, just follow the wolfdog. He'll have a better idea of where she is than we will. And, anyways, that ransom video was probably just to lead us and the police off track."

Ben's hands were clenched on the steering wheel. His knuckles were white. As we sped across the bridge to Folly Island, I leaned my head back against the seat and tried not to imagine worst-case scenarios.

We'd nearly reached downtown Charleston when Coop began barking madly. Before Shelton or Ben could grab him, he jumped out of the window and started racing down the side of the highway, towards the river.

Ben pulled the car over, cursing, and started to run behind the wolfdog. He was leading us away from Charleston - away from where we were supposed to find Tory.

_Wherever you're taking us, dog,_ I thought, _she better be there._

&%&%&%

For the second time, I woke up in a completely different place.

I cracked my eyes open, and smelled river water. Instead of cold stone, dirt was pressed against the open wounds on my back. Everything hurt.

With the little energy that I had left, I sat up, pleased when my muscles moved the way they were supposed to.

A shoe slammed into my lower rib cage. My chest exploded in pain, and I heard several cracks. I lay on the ground, struggling to breathe. Dark spots clouded my vision.

"Not so fast, missy," my kidnapper growled. A knife was clutched in his left hand. "Those police officers took my little video much too seriously. I had to improvise. I was hoping this process would take longer, but you're gonna have to work with me, okay?"

I was in too much pain to reply. I couldn't speak, no matter how desperately I wanted to.

Before I could move, he dragged the knife horizontally across the inside of my forearm, near my hand. I gasped, and my ribs contracted so painfully that I nearly passed out. He drew a vertical cut that ran perpendicular to the first one, and then repeated on the other arm.

That was the first time I got a good look at my body. My shoes were gone. My ankle was completely bent in the wrong direction, and my left leg had taken on a dull, fuzzy feeling. Blood was spreading out across the sand from the wounds on my back, and it was running in torrents across my palms. Through a hole in my shirt, I could see dark bruises forming across my rib cage.

I was a mess.

My kidnapper gathered my broken body into his arms and threw me into the river.

&%&%&%

I was losing hope.

Coop had led us down the river for at least a mile, keeping close to the water's edge. There was no sign of Tory.

As I ran, I repeated a mantra to myself over and over again.

_Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive_.

I glanced behind me. _Please be alive_. Shelton and Hi were dragging behind, but moving as fast as they could. They'd both lit their flares, but I'd been too panicked to light mine. There was no time now.

Coop stopped so suddenly that I stumbled over my own feet trying to slow down. Before I could stop him, he plunged into the river.

A horrible thought occurred to me.

_Please no. Please, please no._

He paused, and I saw him clamp his teeth around something.

_Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive._

With a considerable amount of effort, Coop dragged Tory's lifeless body out onto the sand.

She was motionless, and the first thing I noticed was that she was drenched in blood. Her back was a mess of steadily dripping open wounds, and crosses were meticulously cut into the pale skin of her wrists. She was emaciated and her face was covered in bruises. Her eyes were closed, and she shivered violently.

She was alive. She had to be.

&%&%&%

Warm fingers were tapping my cheek.

"Tory?" a voice cut through the fog in my brain. "Tory, can you hear me? Come on, Tory, come on."

_Ben. _They had found me. I was alive, I was alive, I was alive.

I was so cold. My whole body shook involuntarily. I was terrified to open my eyes. The last two times I'd opened them, it hadn't ended well.

"Is she okay?" another voice demanded. Shelton, which meant that Hi couldn't be far behind.

I cracked an eye open. God, why couldn't I stop shivering?

Ben knelt over me, and I could still feel the warmth of his hand on my cheek. His brown eyes were filled with concern.

"Tory?" he whispered gently. "Tory, can you say something?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a whimper.

Hi stumbled into my line of sight. "Oh, God, we've gotta get her to the hospital."

"No...hospital…" I managed. My first words in who knew how long.

Shelton rolled his eyes. "Tory, you're practically bleeding to death."

Ben pulled off his black sweatshirt and wrapped it around me. Before I could protest, he eased an arm under my shoulders and another under my knees and lifted me into his arms as if I weighed nothing. My resolve completely gone, I slumped against him and buried my face in his chest. I was too weak to cry, but I was so cold.

"It's okay," he murmured. "I've got you, it's okay."

When we finally reached the car, I was attacked by a ninety-pound mass of claws and fur. Coop licked my face and curled up in my lap. He was crushing me, but I didn't care. I was alive, and I was safe.

Ben sped down the highway at lightning speed, and it felt like I'd lost twice my body weight in blood by the time we finally got to the hospital. My wrists were bleeding everywhere, despite my attempts to stop them. I was going to ruin the inside of Ben's car I was barely conscious, and my ribs hurt so badly. My clothes were glued to me with water and blood.

Ben raced over to my side of the car and yanked Coop off of me. My vision was going fuzzy as he carried me into the hospital.

The next thing I remembered, I was lying in a hospital bed and they were trying to stick a needle into me.

_No. No no no no no. Absolutely not going to happen._

My fear sent an invigorating rush of energy through me, and I jolted upright into a sitting position, ignoring the burst of pain that my ribs released. The nurse advanced on me, syringe clutched in her hand. I pulled my arm away, remembering clearly what happened the last time someone stuck a needle in me.

"Sweetheart, please calm down, no one's going to hurt you," the nurse cooed.

_Sweetheart. It had to be sweetheart._

Not knowing what else to do, I screamed. I screamed and screamed and desperately screamed, praying that someone would hear me. People flew into the room, trying to pin me down. I curled up at the back of the bed, sobbing my eyes out.

"Poor girl," a nurse muttered. "What have they done to her?"

A figure sped into the room, shoving nurses and security guards out of the way. I pushed farther against the headboard. I was leaving a trail of blood on the thin white sheets.

Hands found my face. I couldn't see anything. I was delirious and hungry and cold and my skin felt hot.

"Tory? You have to calm down, okay? No one's gonna hurt you."

I felt Ben's fingers brush the tears away from my cheeks.

"You don't understand," I sobbed. "Please don't let them do this, please."

An alcohol-soaked cotton ball was rubbed against the crook of my elbow.

"_No_!" I screamed. "Please, please, no!"

My arm was strapped to the hospital bed. I cried and cried and cried. Ben had let go of me, and I had a feeling that security had dragged him out of the room.

The tip of the needle pushed into my skin. A buzzing filled my ears, and the room went oddly silent.

Then, everything went black.

&%&%&%

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Oh, God, I just wanted to fall back asleep.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

What was that annoying noise?!

I cracked my eyes open. I was lying in some kind of bed, wrapped in blankets and sheets. My arms were laid on top of the blankets, and an IV line ran through the crook of my left elbow. I could feel a tight bandage around my rib cage.

Blinking, I tried to let my eyes adjust to the dim light. I could see bandages wrapped tightly around my wrists. The more conscious I became, the more my entire body began to hurt.

After getting to the hospital, I couldn't remember anything. There was a massive gap in my brain where that information should have been. It was terribly frustrating; I hated not knowing things.

All of a sudden, it was like an anvil had been slammed down onto my brain. I remembered the past few days with disturbing clarity. If I focused hard enough, I could feel my kidnapper digging through the flesh of my back with that awful knife.

Against my will, my bandaged hands started to shake.

_What was happening to me?! _I never let myself cry in front of other people. I'd become an expert at putting up a front, pretending nothing was wrong. Sure, I'd been kidnapped and brutally attacked, but crying made me feel so pathetic.

It took me a second to realize that a few figures were slumped in chairs next to my bed - my dad, Ben, Hi, and Shelton. They were all passed out, and Hi was snoring so loudly that I was surprised I hadn't heard it sooner.

Groaning, I attempted to sit up. Despite the compression bandage encasing my chest, my ribs still hurt more than I'd thought physically possible. My hospital room door was cracked open, and piercing white light bled into the room. I slumped against my uncomfortable, flat pillow. Presumably I hadn't eaten in days, and the simple act of waking up had left me exhausted.

Just as I was drifting back to sleep, the door eased open, and a nurse clad in Mickey Mouse scrubs entered the room, a fresh IV bag clutched in her hands. She didn't look much older than me, with wispy brown hair pulled back into a messy bun and elfin features.

"Hey, honey, you're awake," she said, reaching over and quickly switching my empty IV bag with a new one. "I'm Trina, your nurse."

"Hi," I mumbled. "What...what time is it?"

My voice was hoarse and dry. It sounded foreign to me.

"It's about 3 o'clock in the morning," Trina replied kindly. "We've got you under some pretty heavy sedation. I didn't expect you'd wake up so soon, you've only been here about nine hours."

"What day is it?" I couldn't help but ask. I needed to know just how long I'd been trapped in that dank cell.

"Victoria - do you have a nickname? - it's April 4th. You've been gone three days."

My heart dropped. Three days. It had been three days.

The beeping increased on the heart monitor to my left. Trina sped to my side and fiddled with a few tabs and clamps. Involuntarily, I felt my body relax. It took me a few seconds to get my breathing under control.

"What happened? I can't remember anything, just getting here...and then nothing."

"Well," Trina began. "You got here at around six o'clock last night. You were freaking out a bit and suffering from severe blood loss. We had to sedate you, pump about two pints of blood back into you, and then stitch up the cuts on your back and wrists."

"How bad was it? The cuts, I mean?"

Trina pressed her lips together. "I really shouldn't be telling you this. You're in an awfully fragile mental state."

I shook my head. "I need to know. I'm sorry, but I need to know."

Trina fiddled with her hands. I could tell she was wasting time, hoping that I would eventually fall asleep. My head was spinning, but I could not fall asleep. _I needed to know._

She sighed. "You had seven twelve-inch vertical cuts on your back, running from the base of your scapula to your tailbone. These cuts were very deep and required an extreme amount of stitches for each. Fortunately, the cuts on your wrist were quite hasty and not as deep. Even the vertical cuts didn't hit any major veins.

"Your ankle was broken in two places, but we were able to set it and wrap it without too much difficulty. You can decide whether you want a hard cast or an air cast, but it will heal much more quickly with the hard cast. You also had four broken ribs, one of which was shattered beyond the point of repair. We had to surgically remove it."

Trina suddenly looked frantic. "Oh, God, I wasn't supposed to say all this to you. That's the doctor's job."

"It's fine, I'll pretend like I don't know anything," I mumbled. "As far as I know, I won't remember anything when I wake up."

My thoughts were fuzzy, but I managed to muster one coherent thought. "Why did you let all my friends in here?"

"Honey, you were in such bad shape - physically and mentally - that we thought it would be good if there were people that you knew around you when you woke up. We're not supposed to do this, but…to be quite honest, none of us have ever seen anything quite like this in our lives."

My cheek sank into the pillow. Trina left without another word, and I drifted off to sleep.

&%&%&%

When I woke up a few hours later, a cool hand was stroking my forehead.

I opened my eyes weakly. Ben was hunched over me, his brown eyes piercing into mine.

"Hey," he whispered, moving his hand away from my face.

"Hey," I mumbled in reply. My voice was shallow and shaky. "Where...what time is it?"

"It's six o'clock in the morning. You've been here twelve hours, and according to your nurse, you woke up for a few minutes last night."

I only had a few shreds of memory of my conversation with Trina. The words that lingered in my mind were few: _never seen anything quite like this before in our lives._

I tried to sit up, to no avail. Some of the medication seemed to have worn off, and I yelped in pain as the bandage around my ribs shifted.

"Hey, hey," Ben urged, easing me back down onto the pillow. He pressed the up button on my hospital bed, raising me into a half-sitting position. "Slow down. No offense, but you're kind of a mess right now."

"None taken," I muttered. Squinting, I glanced around the room. It was empty save for Ben, but I could see Kit's lab coat thrown over the couch. "Where is everybody? When I woke up earlier...you guys were all in here."

"Hi's and Shelton's parents dragged them home, and your dad went home to check on Whitney. He said he'd be back as soon as possible."

"God, I hope the police don't come and question me. I don't think I can deal with that."

Ben laced his fingers through mine and squeezed my hand. "I'm sure they will eventually, but not today. About fifteen minutes after we brought you here, the news showed up and the security guards had to throw them out. Everybody's going crazy. The only media coverage in Charleston lately has been about kidnappings."

I laughed bitterly. "The worst part is? The guy that...kidnapped me, it was because of the Gable twins. There was a whole network of guys that were working with Hawfield."

I shivered involuntarily, and Ben tightened his grip on my fingers.

"Don't worry about anything. You're safe now."

"Yeah, I hope so," I whispered.

Trina flew into the room with a fresh IV bag and a paper cup full of pills. Ben let go of my hand and stepped away from my bed. She replaced the bag, then eased the needle out of the crook of my elbow. Clenching my teeth, I tried not to freak out as she pushed a fresh needle through my skin. She flipped a few switches, and a steady drip ran down the plastic tube connecting the bag to my arm.

She walked over to the sink and poured me a plastic cup of water. I swallowed the pills in a giant gulp, trying not to choke.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Ben asked.

I shook my head. I hadn't eaten in days, but I wasn't hungry.

Trina echoed my thoughts. "She can't. The intravenous lines are giving her basic nutrients. She won't be able to keep down any food right now."

She glanced between us one more time, then scurried out of the room.

Ben's phone buzzed, and he reached for it. He swore under his breath.

"Shit, my dad's making me go to school," he growled. "I can't believe this."

"Go, Ben," I whispered. "I'll be fine. You need a break from...this...anyway."

He squeezed my hand. "I just don't want to leave you here alone."

"Please, Ben, you've already done much more than you should have. You saved my life...if you hadn't been there, I would have died."

My eyes were starting to close. I couldn't manage to stay awake for more than a few minutes.

Seeing my exhaustion, Ben lowered my hospital bed and leaned over and kissed my forehead.

"See you later," he whispered. "Your dad brought your phone. Call if you need anything."

_**A/N:**_

_**There's Part 1! I really enjoyed writing this so please read and review! **_


	2. Chapter 2

School was twice as bad as I expected it would be. Information traveled so fast among the city's elite that everybody already knew what had happened to Tory and that she was in the hospital.

I was awfully angry at my parents for making me go to school. I was on about two hours of sleep, and I couldn't get the images of my blood-drenched, weak friend out of my head. Tory was the rock of our pack, the one with all the answers, but right now she was small and helpless, and I had no idea what to do.

"Jason Taylor is giving me shark eyes," Hi muttered in my ear as we crossed the garden. We made it to the stairs without gathering too much attention, but as soon as Jason Taylor started to make his way over to us, conversations stopped and heads swiveled in our direction.

I grumbled under my breath and tried to make it up the stairs as inconspicuously as possible. Jason blocked my path.

"Uh, hey, Jason," I managed. Hi, being Hi, gave him a fist bump.

"How's Tory?" he asked immediately, walking with us into the building. "I need to go see her. God, I was freaking out. I tried texting her, and she wasn't answering. She was gone for three days."

"Trust me, we know," Hi said. "She's in pretty bad shape. ICU. They're only letting family in to see her."

"Then how come you got to see her?" Jason demanded.

"Because we were the ones that brought her in."

Jason couldn't argue with that. "Can you tell her that I said hello, at least? God, that's awful. I just can't believe it. First the Gable twins, then Ella Francis, and now Tory. It's getting ridiculous."

Shaking his head, Jason walked into the building, Hi and I following close behind.

"What a tool," I muttered in Hi's ear.

We'd barely made it into the front hallway when we were mobbed by a crowd of people. The first was Ella Francis, Tory's devastatingly pretty friend, who we'd rescued from a crazed kidnapper a few days ago. I assumed she'd tried to contact Tory, but she'd have no way of knowing what had happened to her.

"Oh my God, is she okay?" Ella exploded. "What happened, where is she, what's going on?"

"Calm down, Ella," Hi assured. "She's not great, but she's alive, and she's in the hospital. You can probably go see her once she's out of ICU."

"_ICU?!_" Ella shrieked. "What happened? I texted her so many times, and she didn't answer! I thought the guy who...took me...I thought he was dead!"

"He is dead," I attempted to explain. "But he had...friends. As far as we know, Tory hasn't been able to say much."

Ella shook her head. "That's just awful. I gotta go to class, but keep me posted, okay?"

"Yeah, we will," I promised. I really liked Ella. She didn't treat us like "island peasants" like the rest of the kids at Bolton did.

Ben called me after first period.

"Hey," I said. "Are you still at the hospital? How is she?"

"I'm not at the hospital. My mom made me go to school, but I was there when she woke up. She was just really tired, and in a lot of pain, but she was talking."

"That's good," I said. "I think me and Hi will head back over there after school."

"Okay, see you later. I just wanted to say...keep your eyes open. We still don't know what happened to the guy who kidnapped her."

"Yeah, okay, bye."

I hung up and tucked my phone away just as Headmaster Paugh rounded the corner. He'd been permanently angry and frustrated since the Gable twins had been "kidnapped" two weeks ago. It was understandable - the triple and now quadruple kidnappings had given Bolton way too much publicity.

He was leading a new student along behind him. The new guy was relatively short, with an army-style buzz-cut and heavy-lidded eyes. He had a slightly unsettling smirk on his face. It was hard to discern his age - he could have been a senior in high school, but he could have been much older.

"Mr. Devers, Mr. Stolowitski," Mr. Paugh greeted us. "This is Jacob Smith. He's a new junior at Bolton."

Hi and I offered weak smiles in Jacob's direction. Something about him was off, even though I didn't know what.

I hightailed it out of that hallway with Hi following close behind.

"That guy seriously gave me the creeps," Hi muttered in my ear as we entered the cafeteria, voicing my thoughts exactly. "He didn't look like a high school student. Something about that was really weird."

"I know," I whispered. "People don't just show up at Bolton in the middle of the year unexplained. There must be some reason why he's here."

"Let's make sure we keep an eye on him. Because something about that is just not right."

&%&%&%

Contrary to Ben's words, the police showed up at 3:00 that afternoon.

Whitney was sitting in the room when they walked in. I only recognized one of them - Carmine Corcoran, who we'd worked with and outsmarted on many occasions.

_Oh, no_. I could hardly stay awake for more than 15 minutes at a time, and the memories were still too fresh in my mind to talk about.

Whitney looked up from the copy of _Glamour _that she was reading. She and Kit were taking shifts of who was going to watch me. Whitney had been here for the past two hours, and she'd convinced Kit to go home and sleep.

"Do you want to talk to her?" Whitney asked the officers, even though the answer was obvious.

"Yes, ma'am, if you don't mind," Corcoran said gruffly. "If you could exit the room, that would be greatly appreciated."

Whitney scowled, looking affronted, but got up and left the room, leaving me alone with the officers. I clenched my bandaged hands together to stop them from shaking.

Corcoran jumped right in - no _how are you doing_, _are you okay_. Nothing.

"Who kidnapped you?"

"I don't know."

"Well, what did he look like?"

"Um. Short. Buzz cut. I never really got a good look."

"You were trapped for three days. How couldn't you have gotten a good look?"

"Because I was unconscious for most of that time."

Corcoran pressed his lips together, clearly frustrated. Then, he reached over and adjusted one of the tabs on my IV pole - the one that adjusted the painkillers. The drip slowed, and it only took seconds before a dull ache swept through my body.

"What did you do?" I gasped out.

"Listen, Brennan. I wanted to make this easy, but I need information, and _I need it now_."

The pain intensified into a steady throb. My whole body trembled.

"Now. What exactly did this guy do to you? I know about your injuries, but what did he do to you?"

"He…" my voice wobbled. "He injected me with some kind of drug so I couldn't move or speak. Then he took a circular knife...like a wheel...and he…"

My voice cracked. I struggled to continue. Corcoran's face was inches from mine. His cheeks were red with anger.

"What did he do, Brennan? What did he do?"

"He cut me with it. On my back."

The tears spilled over the rims of my eyes.

"Don't cry," another voice growled. "You've messed up enough for this police department already. Keep talking."

I pulled my knees up to my chest. "Why are you doing this to me? This isn't an interrogation!"

Corcoran turned the dial for my pain medication all the way down. A bubble of pain swelled and burst in my ribs, and I stifled a scream.

"Let's get out of here. She's useless," the second officer growled. Without fixing my medication, Corcoran and his buddy left the room, slamming the door behind them.

I curled into a ball, shaking from pain and fear. I tried to reach the tabs on my IV stand, but they were too far away. I could hardly move.

The door swung open, and somebody else stepped into the room. I hid my face, but there was no way to conceal the fact that Niagara Falls was currently streaming across my cheeks.

"Oh, God," a voice said. "What happened with those officers?"

Ben's fingers found my chin, forcing me to look at him. I was embarrassed. He had only ever seen me cry once before, and we'd never talked about it.

Before I knew what was happening, he lifted me into his arms and pulled my body into his lap. My IV needle had come loose, but I didn't even notice. He held me while I buried my face in his neck and sobbed three days worth of desperate tears. My whole body shook. One of his hands was tangled in my hair, and the other rubbed my back gently.

It felt like days before I managed to calm down, and by that point I was fatigued and dizzy from pain. I pulled away from him, mortified.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered, gasping for air. He pulled me close again.

"Don't say that. You have nothing to be sorry for."

"I just feel so pathetic."

"We just rescued you from a crazed psychopath about twenty-four hours ago. _It's okay_."

Ben's fingers fiddled with a strand of my hair. "What did those officers do to you that made you freak out like that?"

I turned so my cheek was resting against his chest. "They basically interrogated me. Corcoran - he turned my pain medication all the way off. I couldn't even explain to them what happened, I got so upset."

I could feel anger radiating off of Ben, but he managed to keep his voice calm. "Do you want to tell me what happened?"

I didn't know if it was the exhaustion or the lack of pain medication, but I nodded.

"I woke up - three days ago, I guess - and I was just in this cell. I didn't know where I was and I couldn't really see anything. There was water everywhere and there were no exits or anything. The...guy came in, and he filmed a video with his camera. I tried to get up and walk around, and I figured out that my ankle was broken pretty quickly.

"I fell asleep after a while and I don't know how long it was before he came back. He - he had a syringe, and there was some kind of drug in it so I couldn't move or speak. I tried to flare too, Ben. I tried everything. But it didn't work. And I just had to lie there on the ground while he cut me up and I was bleeding like crazy and oh my God, it hurt, but I couldn't move and I couldn't scream and I couldn't-"

I didn't realize how much my voice had risen until Ben whispered,

"Shhh, shh. It's okay."

In the time that I'd been talking, he'd gotten me back to my bed and pushed my IV line the rest of the way in. He sat next to me, holding my hand and brushing his thumb across my partially bandaged knuckles.

"Is there any more?"

I shook my head. "I can't."

Before I knew what was happening, he leaned over and pressed his lips against mine. The kiss lasted a second, but also an eternity.

"We'll figure out the flaring thing. Don't worry."

He walked out of the room, and I fell asleep, flustered, embarrassed, and happy all at the same time.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Sorry that Part 2 was really short, I was kind of uninspired when I wrote that. I'm thinking of working the whole *SPOILER ALERT* Chance is a Viral thing into this story too. I don't want this to JUST be a Ben x Tory story, I hope that it hasn't been coming off that way too much. FYI, this part is narrated from Shelton's POV. **_

_**Here's Part 3! Hope you enjoy!**_

I was kneeling at my locker after school, shoving books into my backpack, when I felt a tap on my shoulder blade.

I whirled around, startled, and found myself face to face with Jacob Smith, the creepy new guy.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," I replied warily. I had never gotten _Don't trust this guy _vibes as strong as I was right now.

"I heard about the girl who got kidnapped, and that she was your friend. I'm so sorry, is she okay?"

Something about Jacob's tone was…off. It was his first day at Bolton; I'd never seen him before. He should have been trying to find his classes and navigate the twisted social dynamics, not worry about a girl that he didn't even know. Either he was weirdly, unnecessarily concerned with other people's problems, or he had ulterior motives that I didn't know about.

I went for the second option, and kept my answer vague and simple. "She's...uh...okay. I haven't seen her since this morning. She's sleeping a lot. Thanks for asking."

"I hope it's not weird that I asked." He tried for a smile, but it looked creepy and Joker-esque. "I just heard everybody talking about all these kidnappings, and they were saying that the most recent one was your friend. Thought I might ask."

"Did you see the stuff on the news?" Despite how unsettled this guy made me, I had to keep the conversation going. "How long have you been here?"

He seemed to tense up at my sudden curiosity. _Suspicious._

"Oh, three or four days," he said, eyes flitting to my left. "I actually moved down here to go to the Citadel after high school. My aunt and uncle took me in. They have a pretty big house down at the Battery. We don't really watch the news, so I didn't hear anything."

His voice sped up at the end, as though he was eager to get away from the conversation, as fast as possible. His story was believable enough, but the uneasy delivery made it not entirely convincing.

"Well, I gotta go," he said suddenly. "See you around, I guess."

"Yeah. See you around."

He hurried down the hallway and out of sight.

I made my way through the entrance hall and down the stone steps. Hi was waiting for me at the bottom, leaning against one of the granite lions flanking the staircase. I grabbed his elbow and dragged him down the sidewalk, away from the school.

"Dude, what's the big hurry?" he demanded, shaking his arm out of my grip. "Is it Tory? Is she okay?"

"No news on Tory," I muttered in his ear. For all I knew, Jacob Smith was following close behind. "Something's up with that Jacob guy. I talked to him a little bit, and he gives me the serious creeps. He kept ducking my questions. He doesn't look like a high school student. He asked about Tory, even though _he doesn't know her_, and _he got here the day before she disappeared_."

Hi shook his head. "Man, I think you're just being paranoid. Let's wait till Tory is back in school, and then see if there's a real problem with him."

I sighed. "Hi, something about this is not right."

"What do you suggest we do, take a freaking picture of him and show it to her?" Hi snapped. "Go to the police? You saw how helpful they were last time."

"Geez, man, calm down. No need to yell at me. Never mind."

The exhaustion of the past few days had finally caught up with me, and I was as grouchy and irritable as Hi.

We swept through the automatic glass doors of the hospital. Overnight, Tory had been moved out of the ICU and into a private room in the adolescent ward. Her nurse grinned at us when we walked up to the front desk.

"Room A1405," she smiled, pointing down the hallway with a latex-gloved finger. "You came at a good time, she's awake right now."

I clenched my fists around the straps of my backpack as I walked down the hallway. Last night, she'd been mummified in bandages and cocooned with plastic tubes. I wasn't sure what I would see now, and I wasn't entirely prepared for it.

I eased open the heavy wooden door and stepped over the threshold into the room, Hi following close behind. Tory lay in the hospital bed, her head and shoulders propped on a mountain of pillows. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent, and she shivered, despite the heavy blankets covering her thin frame.

"Hey guys," she greeted us, offering a weak smile. Her voice was as full of life as I remembered it, but it shook a little bit. She fidgeted, trying to cross her arms over her stomach without messing up the bandages on her wrists. "How was school?"

"Uh, it was okay," Hi answered. "Everybody was asking about you. Those girls - what do you call them? - the Tripod of Skank, they wouldn't leave me alone. I think they've caught Hiram fever but they're too afraid to admit it."

Tory rolled her eyes, and I smirked.

"But that's not important," Hi continued. "How are you? And what is the whole comprehensive list of injuries?"

"Well," Tory began. "Stitches on my back and wrists, broken ribs and ankle. They've got me on pretty heavy pain medication, and apparently I have a fever now too. I think if I tried to get up and walk, I'd probably pass out. They're still saying that I'm in shock, but I don't think I am. The police showed up and interrogated me."

"Wow," I muttered. I had a ton of questions, but I didn't push. "I have a question. Do you remember what…the guy…do you know what he looked like?"

Tory looked down, lacing her fingers together.

"I never got a very good look. But he was short. Pretty short, for a guy. He had a black buzz cut. Kinda ugly, actually."

Her voice went quiet. She stared at her hands, and my heart dropped into my throat. Hi was staring at me frantically.

"Do you...uh...remember anything else? Did he give you a name?"

"Course not. All I know is that he worked for Hawfield. Nothing else."

"That's the thing…" Hi spoke carefully. "There's this new guy at our school. Just got here today, actually. His name is Jacob Smith. We know nothing about him, but he looks...exactly like your description."

"You're probably just being paranoid," Tory mumbled, still staring at her hands. "I wouldn't worry about it, guys."

"Of course we're going to worry about it!" Hi sputtered. "You're in the _hospital_, Tory. You'd be dead if we hadn't found you."

Tory didn't react. Instead, she smiled at Hi. "I think you two should go home and get some sleep. Don't worry about me, please."

I hated to leave her alone, but arguing with Tory was about as effective as punching a brick wall. Hi and I mumbled our goodbyes and hurried out of the room.

&%&%&%

A nurse came later and said that I'd be released the next morning, despite my raging fever and lack of ability to walk without collapsing. I fell into a fitful sleep, and when I woke up, someone was tapping at my window.

This room didn't _have _windows.

I sat up, ignoring the way the stitches in my back stretched painfully when I moved.

Chance Claybourne was crouched near the edge of my bed. I opened my mouth to scream, but realized it was no use. He'd be gone by the time the nurses got to my room, and I'd be shipped off to the psych ward.

Chance was the biggest threat to me and the other Virals' power. He was almost like an anti-Viral: he was able to drain the life out of us with a snap of his fingers. I'd never been exposed to the full extent of what he could do. I wasn't even sure if I could flare.

About a week ago - although it felt like years - Chance had lured us into his office into the Candela Pharmaceuticals building, where he'd exposed his own powers and demonstrated them on all of us. For months, he'd been toying with us - sending bizarre psychological waves through the air, making me feel a sense of connection between me and my packmates that wasn't really there.

"Hello, Tory," he sneered, a cruel smile twisting his infuriatingly attractive face. "You're looking well."

"What do you want, Chance?" I whispered. "And how the hell did you get in here?"

"That kidnapper did quite a number on you. I'm sorry for taking your flare powers, I had no way of knowing that you'd need to use them."

He didn't sound sorry at all. Suddenly, he grabbed my left hand, pressing his fingers into the exposed skin of my palm. A rush of energy surged through me, and I felt alive for the first time in days.

"That's better, isn't it?" Chance smirked. He reached out and tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear. I flinched and swatted his hand away.

"Get out of here, Chance," my voice trembled. "Don't come back."

"Sorry, Tory. I can't promise anything. I'm not quite done with you yet."

Chance's eyes lit up with molten red light, and he melted into the darkness.

_**Woo hoo Part 3! I promise I'll try to update this more often, I'm REAAAALLLY busy and I'm just doing the best that I can here. This story has received a lot of positive feedback and I'm really grateful for that, thanks guys! **_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: **_

_**Heller dere, sorry for not updating for a couple days. I hope you like this chapter. Don't have much to say except go follow Heslen and read her story Tempted Fate. It's my favorite Virals fic on here right now.**_

__I'd decided not to tell the boys about my run-in with Chance last night.

I'd been released from the hospital at 9:30 that morning. They'd sent me home with a phonebook-sized packet of medical forms and enough amber-colored pill bottles to fill up a drugstore. I wasn't allowed to walk without crutches or exercise for two months, and I had to go back to the hospital to have my stitches checked every two weeks. I was lying on my couch, covered in blankets, because the sutures on my back stretched painfully every time I moved, and my ribs throbbed like hell.

The boys were scattered around my living room like a couple of incredibly bored bodyguards. Ben was sprawled on the uncomfortable-looking window seat that Whitney had purchased, and I knew she'd yell at him once she got home. We hadn't spoken since his surprise kiss two days ago. I wasn't sure what to say to him. First, I'd kissed him. Then, a few days later, he kissed me. What now?

Hi fished a pack of Double Stuf Oreos out of the pantry and dropped onto the other couch next to Shelton. He tore open the container and broke open and Oreo before beginning to speak.

"When are you going back to school?"

I shrugged. "Not really sure. Probably sometime next week. I doubt Headmaster Paugh will be pleased to see me."

"I can think of several other people who won't be pleased to see you," Shelton muttered.

Ben's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Shelton fidgeted, his left hand flying to his earlobe. He glanced at Hi, and they shared a silent conversation.

"There's this guy," Shelton began. "He's new at school. He just showed up the day that we...found Tory."

"And?" Ben demanded. "What's the big deal?"

"He's really weird and creepy. He asked about Tory, and he doesn't even know her."

Ben crossed his arms. "So you think some random guy who's a junior in high school kidnapped her?"

He looked ready to burst out laughing. "Tory, have you seen this guy that they're talking about?"

I shook my head. "Nope. From the description, though, he sounds pretty…familiar."

I didn't have to say more for Ben to know what I was talking about.

"While we're on the subject of creepy and suspicious people," I began. "Chance paid me a visit last night."

"_What?!_" Three shocked voices. "How?"

"I don't know," I replied, because I _really didn't know_. "He just kind of...appeared. I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them again, he was just...there."

I shuddered slightly. The idea that Chance could track our locations and materialize right in front of us whenever he wanted was enough to send a flurry of goosebumps across my skin.

Ben swore under his breath. "God, I actually thought we could avoid this."

Hi crammed another Oreo into his mouth.

"What did he say to you?" Spewing crumbs onto the green-gray kitchen tile.

I sighed. "He didn't hang around for long, and he didn't really say anything of importance, either. He just said..._I'm not done with you yet_."

The goosebumps crawled back onto my skin, and I rubbed my hands over my arms, trying to get rid of them.

Shelton was tugging his earlobe so hard I thought it might come off in his hand.

"That sounds...ominous." His voice had risen about five octaves. "So what you're saying is, we can never really avoid Chance, ever again?"

"I don't know. But if he can just show up wherever we are, that's not good. We have to be really careful. We don't know anything about his powers, or what he's really capable of."

Suddenly, tendrils of awareness spread throughout my brain. I sucked in a breath and didn't release it, surprised. I wasn't flaring. It was as if an outside power had hijacked my thoughts.

_You're right, Tory_.

A chillingly familiar voice permeated the depths of my consciousness.

_You don't know what I'm capable of. _

&%&%&%&%

I was having a face-off with a stone lion.

"Tory, you have to go in. You can't stand here all day," Shelton huffed annoyedly from where he was standing behind me. I was locked in a standoff at the base of the steps leading up to Bolton Prep, and I had no intention of moving.

"Watch me," I growled back. "I don't want to go in. What if my stitches rip open? What if I bleed to death? I'm putting this all on you."

A week after my release from the hospital, I'd gotten the thumbs-up from my doctor to go back to school. It made me nervous to be back in the city. Walking past Chance's house this morning on the way to school had nearly sent me into a panic attack. My heart rate still skyrocketed every time I thought about his apparent telepathic ability. I hadn't mentioned the incident to the Virals, and I hadn't heard from Chance since then. I was praying to every deity I knew that he wouldn't make another appearance in my psyche.

"Tory, we're gonna be late for class. I know you don't want to see people and you'd rather hide in your room all day, but can you please go in?" Hi snapped. "I'll carry you in there if I have to."

I shook my head without turning around. "You'd never carry me up a flight of stairs."

"I'll drag you up the wheelchair ramp, then."

"We don't have a wheelchair ramp."

"My God, will you idiots just _go in?!_" Shelton practically shrieked. " I can't afford to be late to English again!"

I was too tired to keep fighting. My resolve cracked, and I trudged up the stairs at a glacial pace, Hi and Shelton grumbling and prodding me along. I wasn't emotionally prepared to face the deluge of hugs, stares, and fake sympathy that was about to come my way.

Jason Taylor was leaning against my locker, and I resisted the urge to turn around and hightail it out of there. Jason had the Nordic god look down to a science - pale skin, blond hair, icy blue eyes. Most girls would give up their firstborn child just to be noticed by him, but he'd taken an inexplicable interest in me.

Don't get me wrong - Jason was a great guy, and one of the only students at Bolton that I could really trust. But he was downright infatuated with me, and I just didn't share the same level of affection. I'd dealt with it (mostly by avoiding him), but it seemed to get worse every time we spoke.

He snapped to attention when he saw me, and nearly dropped his books in surprise. Pure elation swept across his face, and before I knew what was happening he'd lunged towards me and tackled me in a hug, crushing me against his chest and probably breaking a few more of my ribs in the process.

He let go and held me at arm's length, a face-splitting smile showcasing his perfectly white, even teeth. If this was how _everyone_ was going to react to seeing me, I was ready to leave.

"Oh my God, are you okay? It's so good to see you, I was worried you wouldn't come back, we were all so worried!"

"Thanks, Jason." I smiled weakly. "Good to see you too."

"How are you? I heard you got out of the hospital a week ago, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask."

"Sounds great. I...uh...won't hesitate." My brain may as well have been replaced with mush. I flashed a thumbs up.

_Smooth, Brennan. Very smooth._

Jason was unfazed by my complete lack of conversational skills. He wrapped an arm around me. I gritted my teeth, resisting the urge to shrug it off. He asked a few more questions, but they went in one ear and out the other.

Shelton and Hi breezed around the corner, tossing consecutive head-nods to Jason. Hi smirked when he saw Jason's arm around my shoulders.

There was a third person with them - a person with a face that I knew all too well. My knees nearly buckled, and Jason caught me, concern flitting across his face.

"Tory? You okay?"

I managed a nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. You know. Haven't been able to eat much."

My voice didn't sound like my own. Jason didn't look convinced, but I hardly registered his reaction.

_He's here oh God he's here he's here he's going to kill me I thought he was dead oh God oh God he's back oh God what do I do._

My kidnapper stepped forward, and even though I'd never really clearly seen his face, I knew that it was him.

He extended a hand, the same hand that had beaten me and tried to drown me and etched bleeding wounds across my skin.

"Hi, I'm Jacob Smith." _Jacob Smith. Not his real name_. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Tory," I replied, reaching out a bandaged hand to shake his. He gripped my hand much too tightly and _pinched the stitches on my wrist_, sending an electrical jolt of pain up my arm. "Nice to meet you too."

We stared at each other, and I hoped to God that Jason couldn't register the fear that had to be blatantly present on my face. Jacob's features held a knowing smile - he knew the full effects of what he'd done to me. And just like Chance, he wasn't finished yet.

&%&%&%&%

A week and a half after being kidnapped and brutally attacked by a criminal that was still on the loose, I was sneaking out - again.

It hadn't took much. Whitney had been exhausted and forgotten to set the alarm, and Kit of course didn't remember to do it himself. All I'd had to do was slip down the stairs, throw Greenie Bones at Coop until he promised to stay in his bed, and walk right out the door. Simple enough.

When I got down to the dock, Ben was the only one there.

"Where is everybody?" I asked.

Ben shook his head. "Hi and Shelton bailed. Something about not being able to get out of the house, but I think they're too freaked out to go with us."

I sighed heavily. "To be honest I don't really want to do this either, but we have to. We have to figure out what Chance can do before anything worse happens."

Ben said nothing. After a few seconds of heavy silence, he spoke up. "Are you sure about this?"

"We absolutely have to. Ben, it's a lot more serious than you think. Chance is sending me messages through my mind now."

Ben dropped one of the ropes that he used to tie his boat to the dock, and it fell into the water.

"What?! How?! Tory, why didn't you say anything?" he demanded.

"I don't know how, and I really don't like not knowing, which is why we're going tonight. It was the craziest thing. Remember how I said 'We have to be careful, we don't know what Chance is capable of'? Well, a few seconds later, I _heard his voice in my head_, and he said, 'You're right. You don't know what I'm capable of.'"

Ben stepped into the boat, then reached out a hand and helped me into it.

"Are you sure you weren't hallucinating?"

"Positive."

He fired up the engine, and I watched the faint lights of Morris Island in silence as we sped away from the dock.

The Candela Pharmaceuticals headquarters were on Cole Island, but the main office building for non-laboratory work was in downtown Charleston. A read-through of the B-Series files Chance had encrypted on Karsten's flash drive told us that Chance's parvovirus experiment was based out of a secret lab in the basement of the building. A quick glance at the blueprints showed all I needed to know - there was a maintenance door on the side of the building that wasn't wired to the alarm system and not manned by a security guard.

It took 15 minutes at breakneck speed to get to Charleston Harbor. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about sneaking out just Ben. In a way, it felt like breaking up the pack, and I hated it. At the same time, I didn't mind. It was nice to have a break from the doofus twins.

Ben tied up at a small dock farther down on the harbor than the usual slot that we took. If anyone found _Sewee _out here late at night, we were screwed.

We walked in silence down to the Candela building. Dressed in our black clothes, we blended seamlessly into the night.

"We can't flare," I reminded Ben as we crouched behind a hedge a few feet away from the maintenance door. "Chance can do crazy stuff to our brains when we flare. I don't wanna risk it."

Surprisingly, Ben didn't argue.

After proving that the coast was clear, we bolted towards the door at a dead sprint. To my shock, it was propped open with a splintering wooden wedge - almost like someone had been expecting us.

I shivered at the thought.

We'd entered a dimly lit passage, with cinderblock walls and naked bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The floor was slippery gray cement.

"What are we looking for?" Ben whispered. "For some reason, I doubt that there's gonna be a sign saying 'secret laboratory.'"

"Just keep an eye out for any kind of trapdoor or locked door. Something like that."

We walked all the way to the end of the hall and doubled back. I was ready to give up when something caught my eye.

A narrow ray of light, peeking out of a hidden door frame that I hadn't noticed.

I nudged Ben with my elbow and nodded towards the light. Carefully, tentatively, I put a tiny bit of pressure against the panel. It swung open easily - much too easily.

"This has been way too easy," Ben muttered under his breath, voicing my exact thoughts.

I nodded. "It's like someone knew we were coming."

Ben said nothing, but he'd paled slightly. Clenching my teeth, I stepped through the opening in the wall.

This must have been the loading dock. There was a narrow balcony with a metal railing overlooking a storage area. The room was dark and dingy, with a high ceiling and weak fluorescent lights. Cardboard crates of supplies were scattered across the floor below. There was no sign of Chance.

Ben tapped his fingers against the railing. "What are we looking for?"

"Uh, I don't know. Chance?" I suggested.

As if on cue, a figure stepped out of the shadows. "Did somebody say my name?"

Chance emerged from the darkness. Even at one o'clock in the morning, he looked perfectly relaxed and put together. My stomach backflipped, but not in a good way. Chance was deadly, and he knew it.

"Chance."

"Tory. What can I help you with?"

A jolt of anger spread through me, steeling my resolve. "We're here because we want to know what you've done to yourself and why you're messing with our heads."

Chance didn't get angry. Instead, he chuckled.

"Slow down, Victoria. I think maybe a tour is in order first."

I glanced at Ben. He was slowly shaking his head.

"We have to," I mouthed back. I followed Chance down a narrow flight of metal stairs. Ben scowled, but I heard his footsteps behind mine.

Once we reached the bottom, my jaw dropped out of shock. Chance had somehow managed to hide a massive bank of computers behind a chain-link curtain. There was a control panel covered with unlabeled buttons and switches. I didn't know what any of them did, and I didn't really want to find out.

"This," Chance announced, spreading his hands dramatically, "Is where the magic happens."

"What _kind _of magic?" Ben snarled from behind me, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You see, this was all a mistake," Chance continued, ignoring Ben's question. "But it turned out to be a delightfully useful one. I never knew that sending telepathic messages to people could be so much fun."

"That _was _you," I whispered. I'd known all along that it had been him, but hearing it in person made it all the more real. "So what you're saying is, you can communicate with us telepathically whenever you want?"

Chance's lips quirked into a half-smile. "I'm still working out the details, but so far, everything's been going really well."

"You're a psychopath," Ben growled.

Chance laughed mirthlessly. "Don't call me a psychopath. That's _so _two years ago."

Chance was referring to his recent stay at a mental hospital, a result of seeing me and the Virals while we were flaring.

"Why are you doing this, Chance?" I was too confused to be angry. "What exactly are you trying to accomplish?"

Chance sighed. "Well, Victoria, at first I wanted answers. Now, I have my answers. This is a little something I like to call….revenge."

My heartbeat quickened. I stepped away from the computer bank and prepared to bolt for the stairs.

Chance raised a hand. My feet stopped moving, almost of their own volition.

"Wait a second, Tory. I'll let you go. But first I think you'd like a little demonstration."

I swallowed hard and said nothing. If this was an opportunity to see the full extent of Chance's powers, I was willing to stick around.

I felt Ben's hand on my elbow.

"Let's go," he whispered in my ear. I gave a slight, nearly imperceptible shake of my head.

Chance was leaning over the control panel, tapping his chin with his finger like he didn't quite know what to do. Then, he released a small laugh, and flipped a switch.

Ben's grip on my elbow tightened to the point where he was crushing my arm. I spun around, and watched in slow motion as his fist flew towards my face, connecting with my jaw.

Ben's eyes blazed with molten red light.

_**Oh God it's been forever since I updated. Sorry, I should have put that up sooner, but I wanted to make this chapter really good. Please comment! Thanks!**_

_**~Tasi~**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N:**_

_**GUESS WHO'S BACK WITH CHAPTER 5. Sorry about the cliffy from last chapter - just kidding, I'm not really that sorry :D No worries, this chapter picks up immediately where the last one left off. I know that's a little cruel, but it's just what I do ;) I've been planning this chapter in my head for weeks so here goes! Hope you enjoy!**_

I reeled backwards, head spinning, one hand pressed against the rapidly swelling bruise on my jaw.

"Ben, what are you _doing?!_" I screamed.

As he advanced towards me, fists raised, I could see electric ruby specks flashing in his eyes. A vein jumped out of his neck. Whatever Chance had done, Ben couldn't fight it. It was _controlling _him.

Chance stood behind his control panel, face lit up with a deadly smile. His expression terrified me even more than the fact that my best friend was currently attacking me. I'd always known Chance was dangerous, but never imagined that he could be so cruel.

Fighting Ben wasn't an option. He was strong to begin with, but when flaring, he had the ability to snap my bones with his bare hands. To make matters worse, he was angry. If I didn't find a way to stop him, he would kill me without a second thought.

Turning on my heel, I raced up the flight of metal stairs to the balcony overlooking the room. Ben thundered behind me, feet pounding the steel grates. If I could get just a second to breathe, I'd be able to flare. Even flaring, it was likely that I wouldn't be able to stand a chance against Ben. But I could try.

_You can't flare_. Chance's voice whirled through my head.

"Stop doing that!" I shrieked at no one in particular. I couldn't see Chance. The control panel and bank of computers was dark. It was like he'd never been there in the first place.

_Sorry, Tor. This is just too much fun._

I'd lost time in my mind-battle with Chance. Angry, heavy hands snatched my shoulders and whipped me around. Before I even had a second to register what was going on, I was lying on the cold floor of the loading dock. My head throbbed. Fat rivulets of blood rolled across the left side of my face.

The yellow spots cleared from my eyes. Slowly, I rose into a sitting position. There was no sign of Ben.

_He threw me off a balcony. Benjamin Blue just threw me off a freaking balcony._

My arms shook. He couldn't have just left. If Chance's "flare" wore off, he probably would have come looking for me. At least, I hoped he would.

A stealthy, lithe figure dropped in front of me just as I started to stand up. All the lights in the cavern had been turned off. I could see the twin red eyes staring back at me.

"Ben?" my voice was a whisper. "Ben, it's me, Tory. It's me."

Hands clamped around my wrists like steel vices. I cried out in pain as his fingers pressed into the healing stitches embedded in my skin.

"Ben, stop, you're hurting me."

Tears sprang to my eyes. I'd seen some horrible things in the past two years, but _nothing _was worse than being attacked by your best friend, the person you trusted most in the entire world.

The vice hands released my wrists. I'd barely gotten out a sigh of relief when they returned, this time around my neck. Flailing wildly, I kicked at anything I could reach. My wrists felt like they'd been crushed to bits. I couldn't imagine how I would cover up all these bruises - or how I'd be able to talk to Ben.

Out of options, I reached with my destroyed arms and tried to pull his hands off my neck. I couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, could only feel the blood gushing across my face.

_I am going to die_.

The voice in my head was oh-so-calm. It wasn't Chance's. It was mine.

_I am going to die, and Ben is going to be the one who killed me. _

&%&%&%&%

Two more steps.

One more step.

No more steps.

With the last of my energy, I hauled my battered body through the opening of the bunker. Midway through his homicide attempt, Ben had turned into Ben again. He hadn't realized what he'd done. It was like he didn't know I was there. He hadn't spoken to me, and I was so busy struggling to breathe that I couldn't say anything to him. He'd simply walked out of the building, confusedly eyeing the blood on his hands.

With basically no options, I'd hailed a cab and paid a triple fare to ignore the blood and bruises that covered me. It was a horribly risky move, but I'd been too weak and delirious to consider otherwise.

Ben was pacing. I watched as he walked the length of the wooden bench along the wall, then doubled back. His hair was disheveled, his hands were shaking, and unless I was horribly mistaken, he'd been crying.

I hauled myself upright, leaning heavily against the wall for support. Ben's head snapped toward me.

"Oh my God," he whispered, and he sounded so vulnerable in that moment that I began to cry. My knees buckled and I began to slide downwards, clutching the wall for support. He started to walk towards me, then hesitated. In that moment, I knew that I could never be mad at him.

"It wasn't you," I sobbed. "It's okay, it's okay. It wasn't you."

He reached towards me and lifted me towards him. I sagged against him. He was crying, and the sound made my heart splinter.

"I hurt you, Tor. I hurt you."

"Shhh." I made a pathetic attempt at rubbing his back. "It wasn't you. It was Chance who did this, not you."

"I can't - I can't even remember-"

"I know. I know."

Tears ran down my face, mixing with the blood and falling to the floor. "I had it coming, after what I did to you."

Ben pushed me away from him and held me at arm's length. "Don't say that. Ever."

"It's true," I cried. "You know it, it's true."

"No, it's not," Ben whispered into my hair. "That's not true. You know that never will be true."

Something caught the corner of my eye. I broke Ben's embrace and stepped away.

"Do you see that?"

Ben squinted. Then, his face turned white. I tried to turn and see what he was looking at, but he grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him.

"Tor? Don't turn around."

"Why? What's there that you're not letting me see?!"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do. What's there, Ben? Why won't you let me see?"

He tried to steer me towards the bench and away from the entrance to the bunker, but I broke free of his grip and whirled around.

A glossy 8x12 photo lay on the ground next to the door. When I saw it, my stomach dropped through the floor. It was a photograph of a smiling young woman, tightly clutching a blanket-wrapped baby.

Someone had written on it in silver photo marker.

_Cute, Victoria. I can see the family resemblance. x J.S._

_**A/N:**_

_**BEFORE YOU COMPLAIN I KNOW THIS CHAPTER WAS TERRIBLE. I haven't posted in so long and I just figured that I had to update. Sorry about that. If you did like please review!**_

_**~Tasi~**_


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